The pharmacist told me tonight that Tresiba needs to be refrigerated. Is that necessary?
No… no different then lantus anyway
Refrigerate pens before opening. After opening can be kept at room temp for up to 56 days… it’s very forgiving
Can be kept out out of fridge for longer than any other long acting on the market
According to the insert, once you begin using it, you are NOT supposed to refrigerate it…
And their website says the same thing.
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Does anyone know the reason for this deviation? Whether you personally like to refrigerate your insulin or not, to the best of my awareness this is the only instance of a manufacturer specifically saying “don’t do it!” Anybody got an idea why?
Interesting. I haven’t been refrigerating my Lantus stash (unopened vials that normally sit for about 3 months), instead I’ve kept them in a relatively cool place in my house. I could have swore I’d read that it wasn’t necessary.
Nope…supposed to be refrigerated until opened…
I was very puzzled by that also! Would love to know why.
My best guess is that it’s to minimize the temperature swings that would occur if someone was taking it in and out of the fridge several times per day… this adds a lot of variability to how long it’s going to take to the insulins n to deteriorate whereas “room temperature / 28 days” is black and white
I suspect it’s a regulatory labeling requirement instead of the manufacturers idea
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Sanofi suggests not injecting Lantus cold as it may be more painful. Lantus crystallizes and I suspect that injecting cold insulin affects that process and may lead to more injury.
Question for you Tresiba users. When you switched to Tresiba from Lantus or Levemir, what happened to your total daily basal dosage? More? Less? The same?
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I was taking 20u of Lantus (8u am, 12u pm). Now taking 16u of Tresiba (started off at 20, which had me going into long slow hypos all night).
So I’m currently at 38u Lantus. Maybe I should dial back and start Tresiba at around 30 or so.
I would just start with the exact same amount. Some people end up taking a little bit more some end up taking a little bit less but you might as well start with what you know so that you’re not introducing an additional variable at the same time.anything else would be just a wild guess
ok, thanks.
That has always been my intention. The purpose of the question is to collect enough data points to get some idea of the most likely direction things may go. In other words, is it random or is there a pronounced trend either way?
Yeah, dropping the dose that much preemptively seems like a lot to me. I’d prob still suggest either trying the same or slightly less, but be vigilant for hypos (which tends to be more drawn out, not like severe quick drops, but in my experience, they took more carbs to treat). That said, I have a CGM, so I’m comfortable with the possibility of going low overnight. If that’s not the case for someone else trying it, they might want to be more cautious. It’s also worth noting you should expect reduced coverage the first 24 hours, since typically with Tresiba you’ll have that day’s dose plus the tail from the day before, so the first day you start, you won’t really have the effect of the full dose. I don’t think I had my lows until after the second dose. So it’s more important than with other long acting insulins to give it longer to see the effects, especially if it doesn’t seem like quite enough.
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Not that I’ve figured out…seems about a third report a few more units, a third a few less and a third exact same from what I’ve seen… not exactly a scientific poll though
Yeah, no CGM here (type 2, not even a year in), but I’ve been running a bit high lately in the morning anyway (110-120), so I’m not particularly worried about an overnight low. I may still wake up middle of the night and test that second night. Just in case. Still have to finish the current Lantus vial anyway, so I’m probably a couple of weeks away from changing.
OK, so yeah, I’ve been storing it at room temp from the moment I get it. I get 4 vials (roughly 90 days’ supply) at a time, and have never refrigerated any of it. I have no idea if this was bad information I got online, or from a pharmacist, or from one of the books I read.
So, the vial I’m currently using (roughly halfway through) has been at room temperature since 11/23. Now I’m debating whether I should just go ahead and start the fresh Tresiba rather than finish off this vial that’s been at room temp for almost 3 months now.
In my experience with various types of insulin, those guidelines (28 days or whatever) are very very very conservative. With my lack of IR and typical low dosages, it typically takes 60 to 90 days to use up a vial and I have yet to have a single one go bad. The caveats to that are (a) I haven’t tried Tresiba yet, and (b) I keep all of it refrigerated all the time.